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EDMONTON - CHICAGO — Do you know the way to San Jose?
Don’t bother asking the Chicago Blackhawks because one more win and they’re not going back.
The conference final showdown between the top two teams in the West is turning into a rout. Even though the margin of difference is razor thin, that razor is leaving a lot of Shark blood in the water.
“Tonight was huge.” said Chicago captain Jonathan Toews, after the Blackhawks stomped out San Jose’s valiant comeback attempt with Friday’s 3-2 overtime triumph. “Especially after they tied it up (late in the third) and had some momentum in overtime. But we knew in our hearts that somebody was going to pull through.”
Having lost the first two games at home, the Sharks were dead men walking when they trudged into Chicago, but they turned the funeral march into a zombie movie when they kicked open the coffin lid and gave the Hawks everything they could handle Friday. But then San Jose's old nemesis Dustin Byfuglien sealed their fate at 12:24 of the extra period.
His third goal in three games is the head shot that all but ended this thing.
“Bolland made a great play to get it in the slot and all I had to do was finish,” shrugged the big winger, who has seven goals, three of them game winners, in 15 playoff starts. “It’s great, it’s something that I’ll definitely remember. Good hard work always seems to pay off in the end, so it was nice.”
They know they dodged a bullet here. For the third time in three losses, the Sharks did everything but win. They outshot Chicago 46-38, out-hit them 38-31. Counting blocked shots and missed shots, they directed 88 pucks at Antti Niemi, who turned in his second 44-save performance of the series.
“We’re relying on him big time, he’s our MVP right now for sure,” said Patrick Sharp.
Sharks coach Todd McClellan isn’t sure what else they can do.
“Sometimes the bounces go your way and sometimes they don’t,” he said. “I can’t walk into the room on Saturday and tell the guys that they didn’t work hard. We have to bottle up that game and find a way to score one more goal than they do on Sunday.”
San Jose opened the scoring on Patrick Marleau’s goal with a two-man advantage, only to watch Chicago tie it up on a power play of their own three minutes later.
The Blackhawks looked like they had it in the bag after Dave Bolland made it 2-1 on a third period breakaway. They were just 6:55 away from a trip to the Stanley Cup final, but it turns out that was long enough for San Jose to stay alive. Sure enough, Marleau, long dogged for his inability to deliver in the clutch, saved the day at 15:37.
The series is 10 periods old and only two Sharks have found the scoreboard — Marleau with four and Jason Demers, with the only San Jose goal in Game 1.
So it came down to overtime, where one shot would either resurrect the Sharks or all but end the series.
“They’re not going to give up and they’re not going to give up in Game 4, either,” said Sharp. “Every shift is so important, every bounce, every shot on net is huge. It can really go either way.”
LATE HITS ... With his second period assist, Toews extended his scoring streak to 12 games, breaking the franchise record of 11 set by Stan Mikita in 1962.